A New Inner Circle
by redishot3
Summary: What if the sailor scouts were never reborn to help protect Serenity? What if Sailor Moon fights youma the best she can, alone? What if, one day, she finds a new inner circle from the most unlikely of places?
1. Chapter 1

0o0

Sailor Moon sat at the top of a tall building overlooking the city. She smiled to herself, the view was fantastic. That's what made this rooftop her favorite in all the city.

Closing her eyes, she focused outward searching for any strange power signatures.

"Find anything?"

Sailor Moon cracked open an eye and peered over to the voice. A black cat with a crescent moon stared over at her.

"Not yet Luna. Give me a few more minutes and then we can go." Sailor Moon said, closing her eyes once again. This was their daily ritual. Every day after work, Usagi transformed into Sailor Moon and checked with her senses to see if any developments happened since the last night.

Usually, her scans came up negative. She kept the city in pretty good order. She was only really needed once every few months or so.

Finding nothing out of the ordinary, Sailor Moon climbed down from her perch and shook her head. "Lets go home." They jumped from building to building on their way to the apartment they rented together on the upper west side of town.

A sudden flare of power caused her to stop in her tracks. She didn't need to concentrate to feel that one. Even as Usagi she probably would have felt the obvious use of power.

Sailor Moon looked down at Luna and saw she'd felt it too. They changed directions, heading instead towards the source of power.

0o0

They arrived quickly and hid on a rooftop, observing. Two men floated in the air, zooming around the sky faster than she could ever hope to be but she could follow their movements. They seemed to be using some kind of martial arts, though her knowledge on that was slim to none.

An occasional energy blast was fired between the two which was what she'd decided felt in the first place. Man, she did not want to get hit by one of those. They felt like lightning death and she was at least one hundred meters away. It was ridiculous they were fighting with such fervor in the middle of a heavily populated city. What if one of those energy balls they threw around so carelessly ended up going astray and knocking over a building?

She couldn't tell if they were friendly or not. The aggression that rolled off the two was unparalleled by anything she'd ever seen but to her surprise, there was no malice. She didn't think they were trying to kill each other but she couldn't be sure they'd react kindly to her or humans.

"I'm not sure what to make of them." Sailor Moon said to Luna, not taking her eyes from the men. "They don't seem like youma. Any ideas?"

Luna looked long and hard at the fighters, brows knitted together. "I… I'm not sure." Sailor Moon was socked. Luna usually was on top of things like this.

She took her eyes off the battle, crouching completely behind a wall. "What do you mean you don't know! This is the biggest development in ages and could be the strongest enemy we've ever had to face and you don't even know what they are?"

"The universe is a big place, Usagi." Luna said with a scowl, annoyance causing her to slip and use Sailor Moon's secret identity. "I can't know everything. Maybe they're from a distant galaxy."

"Okay, okay. Sorry. I'm just a little on edge. I'd hate to make the wrong move here and end up with an enemy when it doesn't have to be that way, especially ones like that." She gestured without looking at the fighting guys.

"It's okay but I think we should go. I'd rather do some research first on these guys and see if I can't at least find out their species." Luna said.

"Okay, yeah that sounds smart. It'll give us time to think of a plan." Usagi said, sitting up and taking one more glance at the men fighting, making sure the coast was clear. When she saw nothing but open sky, her eyebrows came together. _They were just here._ She searched with her eyes, scanning the area.

"Looking for something?" came a sneer from behind her.

Usagi bolted upright and around in one smooth jump, landing in a fighting stance facing the two men. Up close, Usagi could see that one of the men was much shorter than she thought from far away. His head had a few inches on her but his hair added almost an extra foot of height. _Guess that's why I thought he was taller._

She looked at the other one standing offset behind the first. This one actually was as tall as she thought standing more than a foot taller than her. His hair was fashioned similarly to the first but without as much height. The second man didn't seem to be as angry with her presence as the first but both seemed cautious.

The two made for scary standoff partners. Their fight forgotten, they stood united against her. Even without their superhuman speed and strength, their muscle mass was enough to enter into 'World's Strongest Man' competitions. Usagi had never been good anything physical, thus her life's aversion to gym related activities, relying on her agility and speed to get her out of any fights of strength she couldn't win.

But here were two huge, strong men with supersonic speed. She was hoping she could teleport away before these guys knew what happened. Slowly, without taking her eyes off the men, she reached down and grabbed Luna into her arms.

Usagi quickly started filling herself with the power to transport, hoping the two men didn't notice. Their eyes narrowed and she knew she didn't have much time. _Can they sense my power? _Usually it took her a good thirty seconds to collect the energy but this time she wasn't sure she'd even have five.

In a last ditch effort, she called out all her energy, even using the silver crystal. She teleported to an alley near a train station. She detransformed quickly, hoping her location wasn't revealed to their senses.

She walked out of the alley and blended into the crowd, taking the train home.

0o0


	2. Chapter 2

0o0

Usagi fell back on her apartment door to close it. It'd been one tiring day. As the head event planner for a large company, she always had things to do and today was no different. Along with the CEO's upcoming birthday party, four conference calls and a convention, a last minute meeting with a big perspective client came up, leaving Usagi scrambling to put it all together.

Usagi sighed. She'd gone to college for political science, hoping it would help her with her destiny of one day reviving the Silver Alliance. _I'm nothing more than a glorified secretary._

Usagi sighed once more and then pulled herself away from the door. "Hey, Luna! Are you home?" she called out.

"In here." came Luna's voice. Usagi followed it to the living room where the cat was hunched over the home computer. Usagi knew it wasn't just an ordinary PC, since it's technology was from the moon and had databases on all the species known to lunarians. Before the kingdom's destruction, Mercurians were helping to update the archives. They didn't get very far however, so the database was less than desirable but still better than nothing.

"I'm _starving_. What do you want for dinner?" Usagi asked while falling gracelessly onto the couch.

"Anything's fine." answered Luna distractedly, eyes glued to the screen.

"Find anything?"

"No." Luna said, looking dejected. "I was hoping to at least find a reference to them but no such luck yet." She turned to Usagi.

"How 'bout rice?" asked Usagi. Rice was about the extent of Usagi's cooking skills. She loved food and loved eating it even more but her inability to cook a decent meal left her tastebuds longing for more.

"Yeah, that's fine." Luna's attentions already turned back to the computer.

Usagi rolled off the couch and walked the short distance to the kitchen and started supper. With the water boiling, Usagi left the kitchen to change out of her work clothes. She slipped into jean shorts, sneakers and a plain black tee. It was her standard nightly getup incase she had to run away not as sailor moon, like last night.

She returned to the kitchen and poured in the rice. She made her way back to Luna and sat on the couch, clicking on the remote. The news station was already on from this morning. Usagi settled in to watch what was happening in the world. Nothing much, apparently, which she supposed what good, even if it made for boring television. The same old human issues were addressed and a guest speaker came on to speculate and fill time.

The stove timer went off and Usagi hurried over. She poured a bowl for herself and a smaller one for Luna. She added two spoonfuls of canned tuna to Luna's. Usagi couldn't even smell the stuff without wrinkling her nose but Luna seemed to enjoy it. Usagi added a few splashes of soy sauce to hers and brought both bowls to the living room.

"Food's ready." Usagi said when Luna didn't turn from the computer at her entrance. Luna jumped from the computer to the coffee table and took a bite from her bowl.

"Thanks," Luna said. Her grateful expression turned to a furrowed brow however when she saw Usagi's getup. "I hope you don't think you're going out tonight."

"Of course I was. I do this every night." Usagi said, surprised Luna had a different view.

"Not with those two on the loose, you're not." Luna looked hard at Usagi, both of them knowing who 'those two' were. "We don't know the first thing about those men _except_ for the fact they can sense energy far easier than you. Going out tonight would be like asking them to find you."

"Oh, come on. We don't know that for sure. It could've been an accident they found us."

Luna shook her head. "It's just too dangerous."

"What am I supposed to do? Sit around? Wait until they destroy half the town before I make a move?" Usagi asked incredulously.

"At least let me find out who or what they are before you go giving away your location." Luna said, obviously annoyed Usagi wasn't seeing her side.

"What if a new enemy pops up while I'm not patrolling? Innocent people could die if I don't help!" Usagi said, getting mad.

"You're more important than they are!" Luna shouted, making Usagi gasp. Luna obviously regretted the words once they left her lips but then hardened her resolve.

"You don't mean that." Usagi whispered.

"I… well… not like that, no, but lets face it, Usagi. You _are_ more important than these earthlings. You're the last of your kind. You have a kingdom to resurrect; a destiny."

Usagi knew Luna's words were true, even if harsh and awful but she couldn't sit around knowing that her inaction caused a death, no matter how insignificant.

"I live on this planet, so I guess that makes me an earthling." Usagi said coldly. "I'm going out now and I'm going to protect my fellow earthlings."

"Usagi, wait. I didn't mean it like that. I-" Usagi slammed the front door closed, cutting off the rest of Luna's pleas.

0o0

Usagi stood on the rooftop of her building. She'd come up here to transform into Sailor Moon and search the city for evil doers but here she was, an hour later and she was still Usagi.

She'd been thinking all this time. Luna said some harsh things but maybe they weren't that untrue. Sure, she was important. Sure, she was the last of her race. Sure, she had a duty to stay alive and rebuild her lost empire.

The only thing Usagi wasn't sure of was her life being valued above an earthlings. It didn't seem right. It was high and mighty to say her life was more important but looking at it from the outside, wouldn't it be true? This question plagued Usagi and was the reason she didn't transform right away.

Usagi sighed and looked out over the city. She'd tried scanning without transforming but her range was too small as Usagi to be able to cover the whole city.

The roof door squeaked open in the ungraceful way only a pair of paws could produce. Usagi hunched in on herself, still not ready to face Luna but no longer angry. Luna was her only true friend in this life. She had plenty of human friends but none she could tell about her secret identity without risking an enemy using them against her but when a whole past life is a secret, friendships can never fully develop. That left just Luna.

Usagi was the first to break the silence. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Look, I know-"

"I know. And I'm sorry. It was tactless and horrible."

"But it _was_ true." admitted Usagi. She didn't think others should die in her place but she did understand the role she had to play in the future. If she died now, how many future lives would she destroy?

The air was heavy with dead air. Usagi and Luna stood apart, knowing their fight was forgotten.

Usagi turned to the city and Luna came over and sat in her lap. They just looked at the city in companionable silence. After a few minutes, Usagi's stomach growled.

"Ah, I guess I forgot to eat dinner."

"I put it in the fridge. Let's go inside." Luna said, looking at Usagi. Usagi could plainly see Luna hoped she'd gotten through to Usagi earlier about not transforming for a while.

Usagi didn't need much time to consider. _What's the harm in a few nights off? _The city had been safe for years with her adamant protection and she could feel those energy blasts the two men used as Usagi.

_I haven't had a night off from Sailor Moon duty for ages._ The thought was enticing and Usagi felt herself nod. Together they walked back inside. They watched a movie together, something they rarely had time for with Usagi's long hours at work and Sailor Moon at night. It felt nice to just relax for once.

0o0

Two weeks passed in a slow moving crawl. Usagi was too used to the fast, 'always things to do' lifestyle she'd lived with her double life. Now, living only one life, she wasn't sure how to fill the time. Mostly she spent her time trying to help Luna uncover more on the mystery men but Usagi had never liked studying and research came really close.

They'd made no headway on information. As the Mercurians had filled the databases with the most relevant information first, most of the data was about the Silver Alliance and the kingdoms closely related to it.

Usagi looked at the star charts spread out before her on the coffee table. The living room was a mess of papers, charts, books and anything else the two thought might help their investigation. Luna was busy combing the computer for ever more obscure races and planetary alliances. Each time a new race was discovered, Usagi would place it on the star chart.

"Did you find anything yet?" Usagi asked Luna, not really confident the answer would be anything but no.

"No." Luna said on a sigh.

"Is it good that we can't find anything?" Usagi asked. "I mean, if they were really bad, surely their information would be in the records. We have plenty of information about the other large races out there and the super dangerous. They didn't fit into any of those so maybe they're from a distant galaxy and like to live peacefully."

"I hope that's the case, Usagi. I really do." said Luna. "But you saw what they were capable of as well as I did. A race with those abilities is a real threat to anyone. I doubt they could be peaceful."

Usagi made a sound of displeasure, hearing the truth in Luna's words. She'd been hoping Luna might have been thinking on her wavelength but she'd only been hoping half-heartedly.

Usagi looked at the clock. _2am... I've got work in the morning._ Usagi stood and offered a quick goodnight to Luna. She knew the cat would stay vigilant for a while yet. Usagi had tried forcing Luna to get rest in the beginning but Luna was almost as stubborn as Usagi when it came to this. Usagi let her be but knew if they didn't find a solution soon, Luna could end up overworking herself and at Luna's age, it could be devastating for her health.

_If I just reveal myself… _

Usagi shook her head. While the thought appealed to her sense of protection for Luna, it wouldn't end well. The men were extremely dangerous and might not allow her a second chance to escape should they prove to be her enemy.

It was food for thought as Usagi tucked herself in for bed. It swirled around with countless other worries and nagging feelings in her head as she fell asleep. Due to her exhaustion, the thoughts were quickly quieted, replaced with a dreamless sleep.

0o0


End file.
